Witnessing the Death of Liberty

April 22, 2013

“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” - Edward R. Murrow

Benjamin Franklin warned that a people preferring security over liberty deserves neither. In the aftermath of each attack upon our nation, we have seen this maxim play out with growing restrictions on our God-given constitutional freedoms.

There was the USA Patriot Act, passed in the wake of 9/11, followed by the creation of a massive bureaucratic agency known as the Department of Homeland Security. Personally, I have never felt uncomfortable with that word — homeland — which I found to be reminiscent of “motherland” or “fatherland,” terms too often utilized by tyrants who wish to stir their people to fanatical nationalism without regard to personal liberty. We have submitted to indignities at airports, surveillance of our movements in public places, and intrusions into our private lives that would never have been tolerated by previous generations.

With each mass shooting, the clamor for more gun control has become louder. For those who have not yet given up on the folly of revoking the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, with President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg leading the parade, the murder of 20 innocent first-graders at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, afforded them the perfect opportunity to further their agenda.

Obama was angry when the U.S. Senate did not pass universal background checks, the last meaningful amendment to his gun control bill. He claims that 90 percent of Americans support such legislation. He also observed that 90 percent of Democrats voted for it, while 90 percent of Republicans opposed it, implying that GOP senators somehow caused the bill’s demise. With Obama’s party in control of the Senate, 100 percent of Republicans are incapable of stopping anything if Democrats want it passed.

With the terrorist bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, the drumbeat for tighter restrictions on American liberties continues unabated. Bloomberg, who thinks everything we do is his business — to criticize and to regulate — told a radio audience: “I would argue that if you want to sell your gun to your son, maybe you have a problem in your family.”

Excuse me? This is the mentality of a despot.

But the attitude is hardly unique on the left. Hollywood actor Jay Mohr took to Twitter following the Boston carnage, tweeting that it was time to rid ourselves of the 2nd Amendment — as if that would have stopped the bomber from putting together a device made of ball bearings, nails and pressure cookers. Perhaps a ban on building materials and cooking utensils is in order. To paraphrase Obama, if it would save just one life, wouldn’t it be worth it?

In the aftermath of the Boston bombing, David Sirota, writing for Salon.com, posted a column whose title speaks for itself: “Let’s Hope the Boston Marathon Bomber is a White American.” His premise is that “white privilege” would prevent that person from bringing persecution down upon all white people — unlike, say, a Muslim of Arab descent between the ages of 18 and 39 who flies planes into buildings? As you know, we perpetrate so much racial profiling and other discrimination on people fitting that description.

Apparently Sirota has forgotten the pandering of George W. Bush to “the religion of peace.” Perhaps he has not been informed that TSA agents regularly humiliate white-haired little old ladies and terrorize young children in our airports in order to appear culturally sensitive to the person next in line who happens to be wearing a turban or a burqa. Maybe no one told him of the special treatment at GITMO, where prisoners are given the opportunity to practice their religion, read the Koran and eat culturally appropriate meals. And it would appear that he is unaware of Major Nidal Hasan, who shrieked “Allahu Akbar” before murdering 14 people and wounding 32 others at Fort Hood Army Base in Texas — and to this day the Obama administration refuses to call it terrorism? They prefer “workplace violence.”

Those who would steal our freedoms would first steal our reality, or at least distort it. This nation of sheep is indeed begetting a government of wolves, and as a result we are all witnessing the death of liberty.

Doug Patton describes himself as a recovering political speechwriter who agrees with himself more often than not. His weekly columns are syndicated by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Readers are encouraged to email him at dpatton@cagle.comand/or to follow him on Twitter at @Doug_Patton.